Reviews:

Guest 1:

I put enough hints but looks like I'll have to flat state it. The Horde's located in the Wolf plains, which are just south east of Karaz-a-karak. still over a good 300 miles away, or a couple turns march in total war. but still on the other side of the Dark Lands from Cathay and "not that far" from the Alliance. *cough* still a distance closing on the width of the whole EU.*cough* but that placement really puts them out of Cathay's military range...the pool pf threats is still fucking terrible however but i honestly chose that location because of a particular trade hub in the Darklands and noticed the western half didn't have their own equivalent.

Guest 2:

IDk with a unknown colonial group you haven't really had time to negotiate with...typically that leads to either all your descendants speaking that people's language and identifying more with their culture...orrrr sitting around drunk complaining about and feeling self-pitty for things they weren't even alive for.

Guest 3:

By my standards?...No, By Warhammer Fantasy, LoTR, A song of Ice and Fire, Dragon Prince etc standards?...no

By Age of Sigmar, and post Cataclysm WoW standards...maybe for all of a few minutes before Shadowlands vaporized them or turned them into meat puppets...or rendered their entire life and existence meaningless.

By the End of the Battle for Azeroth Sylvanas lost all credibility as a leader learning into the cliche villain tropes so hard that you could have taken hitler sound clips and used them for her voice lines instead. Sourfang was a great leader and died in his first 1 to 2 seconds as Warchief.

A certain blond boy became a relatively good leader, except for when anyone more competent than the writers for Blizzard stepped into the room then his role was to shut up and stand aside, or ask the questions that the other character really should have already asked themselves without needing someone else to prompt them.

Jaina became a beloved dictator again, this time to a nation that gladly threw away their resources and lives to a world war that they previously had insisted on staying out of...because two generations of their population absolutely despised jaina or were raised to hate jaina and refused to ever be on the same side as her. So Jaina have good Statesmanship?

And the Horde by the end of Battle for Azeroth gained a vengence driven Queen of a Troll nation who wont stop until Jaina is dead and the Alliance punished...unless the plot says to stop. And a pair of new Undead "not obviously set up as the new faction leader" characters, one being so pro-Alliance it would be a miracle if the Forsaken didn't flip to Alliance with her in charge. But yay the Horde is democratic now and the Warchiefs are no more...Democratic in about as much as the French Revolution was democratic and not a series of mini-dictators and anarchic mass murderer enjoyers.

Guest 4:

I am Cornholio

Guest 5:

I know, the game to "save data" just renames existing units. But the frustrating part is that none of the gameplay nor extra content suggests any real unique units, and then the weapons always seem to focus in on "so-in-so's personal one of a kind skull masher"...that half the playerbase owns and no one is willing to pay for on the item trade. Only for a farmers pitchfork to outstat in a upcoming patch. BLizzard could have done real well, particularly in the item trade of the game, to create some "specialty units" that PC's can then get the sets for. There is some of that now, but by Wrath it was all about some unique gear weilded only by demi-gods. What's funny though is that there is just enough contextual clues to suggest there are such unique units they're just treated as generic mooks in gameplay and story especially since the PC's and major named characters take priority over absolutely everything even if it means sacrificing world building, or even the fans.

Guest 6:

That one is both easy and hard. Chaos and the Gods are similar to but still very different from there 40K and AoS counterparts. My favorite example is in the Nagash Omnibus where the Gods of Nehekhara displayed very impressive feats of power in a land where the winds of magic were so weak that deamons couldn't manifest and wizards couldn't use magic...until Nagash literally reshaped the winds of magic just so he could use this Necromancy ability he just made up.

Basically while to what extent the Gods are dependent on the Winds of Magic or Prayer is still up to debate the fact that they can display power when other figures or Warhammer Fantasy can not is a impressive testiment. Likewise the Chaos Gods don't require magic power, at least from what a mortal can see or comprehend to have influence. And since I'm not playing a 1 for 1 equivalency which would reduse both worlds to their most simplistic forms, doing both a disfavor, I'm basically left with two options either a entire cut off between the worlds magics and Pantheons, which goes a bit against some of the themes of Warcraft, OR provide both worlds a bit of natural resistance to eachother. The Gods of Warhammer are jealous beings, Morr hates those who take his dead from him, while basically everyone from Warcraft either abhorrors corruption, self serving behaviors, orrr is so selfish that they'd get pissed at Chaos and the Warhammer Gods for moving in on their turf.

Ironwall:

Maybe, we do have a hint in my terrible grammar ridden prolog.

Hakuryuu:

I had to jump on his post to check that because I ignored Greasus' post since I didn't think it'd have anything outside his Funny/Fucking Cool rise to power. Also the Politics of the Warhammer world certainly have that pre-colonial feel where that right of conquest mentality was a lot stronger and as a ironic result as well as just due to how the systems worked, a lot more self rule, potentially more so than "current year" states are given. Which should lead to a an interesting conflict of worldviews since thanks to the small size of Azeroth, portals etc Azeroth is "Cold War fantasy version" *gives a bitter glare to Blizzard* except far more scared of conflict Considering it took decades for a "major" even a Korean war/Vietnam/Afghanistan/anything that happened after WW2 scale conflict between the two to even spark off.

Orcs and Goblins vs Orcs and Goblins

One thing both Warhammer Fantasy and Warcraft fans can ageee on is that their Orcs and Goblins are very unqiue and the most fun and the best...oh oh no.

So as might have become obvious with this story is that I'm distinguishing between the Orcs or Warcraft and the Orcs of Warhammer by using the warhammer 40k spelling for Ork with the Warhammer Fantasy Orcs. I'm still trying to find a suitable alt for the Goblins of Warhammer or Warcraft because "hobgrots" just doesn't work...GW's attempts to sue the earth to death via poorly thought out names continues to make writing impossible. But I wanted to make a note on this also to see if anyone has a workable suggestion and then decided to make a whole segment on the differences between the two in terms of story, culture, biology, magic etc.

So the Warcraft Orcs are as follows. a humorous race of green skinned barbarian warriors...on the surface...they also happen to be home of muscle mama's, Green Jesus, and better Noble Savages than the Na'vi ever were. The Warcraft Orcs begin their story on a world seperate from Azeroth called Draenor basically a more savage version of Azeroth where horns and tusks never went out of fashion. However an Orc Warlock made a deal with the destructive force named the Burning Legion and tricked the Orcs into forming an alliance they called the Horde. The Orcs then bound themselves to a demon, whose corruption is the reason for their green skin, and on the Burning Legion's command invaded Azeroth...and failed spectacularly.

They made a second attempt and succeeded in partially destroying their own world leaving a chunk of their population to be slaves for Demons, and having everyone else become trapped on Azeroth. Those trapped on Azeroth were put into camps by the humans, which in lore says one thing but in showing ranged from low security prison, to nearly unwatched Orc Reservations, to Nazi or Communist Death camps.

In comes Thrall and the New Horde and the events of Warhammer 3, which we'll somewhat skip, but the Orcs are now free of the Demons, but still tainted though that's fading away and their natural dirt skin color skin is returning over the generations. Thrall decides that living away from the humans and forming their own civilization with an Alliance (hu hu get it?) of other Azeroth races would be the best idea...which was great...right until the Foresaken and the Night Elves decided to pick sides. Thanks to the Night Elves joining the Alliance the Horde now still had a moderately hostile human/elf threat right on their door, and thanks to the Forsaken signing on Thrall's dream of leaving the humans alone got flushes down the toilet as he teamed up with the one race that was still actively committing war crimes against humanity.

But it wasn't all bad as we go into Orc Biology and Culture. See Orcs like the horny, and a single Orc couple typically has a bunch of kids, which since the Horde wasn't immediately at war with anyone meant they finally had a chance to regrow their population which after a planet going kaboom, death camps, evil demons, and suicidally throwing themselves at demons to stall for a tree hugger to make another guy explode as he hugged a really big tree (see warcraft 3's storyline) The Orcs needed to regrow more than ever. But the Orcs either were raises in, or had lived in a non-stop war culture for so long this created some serious social issues. Which Thrall tried to answer by reintroducing or reemphisising Shamonism to the Orcs.

Surely their bodybuilder esque bodies and long fireside stories of feats of martial strength would lose out to dancing around rocks, sitting still and meditating and limiting drug intake to explicitly ritualistic reasons...it didn't work, well it sort of did, but not enough and Thrall got himself a girl and got fed up with leading...and then got so fed up with his successors, all of them being Expies of a certain Failed Austrian Painter, or a certain Georgean Orthadox School dropout both with great mustaches, that Thrall ran away and hid. Leaving the Orcs and the Horde as they are now, a lot of kids, Teens and young adults who keep getting told they should be more peaceful, while grandpa rants about how he popped a dude's head off by flexing his bicep hard enough, and ever more terrifying stuff keeps invading every other month.

And have we mentioned how instinctively fit the Orcs are, even their tweens have abs of steel. Some mild (actually useable on a humanoid head) tusks, and surges of energy typically leaves Horde Orcs as capable of actuly throwing themselves at a physical task and succeeding, and if not they can throw them at it again.

Warcraft Goblins are another entirely distinct race, they are native to Azeroth, the embodiment of self-destructive greed, and range from having some oddly kinky voice lines, to being overly silly. Biologically they're nothing special outside of having a boosted intelligence. Culturally the Goblins are a mixture of Mafia and Corporations with greed being their really almost only driving factor. So overall the Goblins of Warcraft end up as a background factor, serving as mercenaries, merchants, black market dealers, the evil monopoly man, and generally as a support that the other races use.

On the other side of the portals in this story. dwell the Orks and Goblins of Warhammer. Both are subspecies of the same overall race. The first is the Goblins the more numerous of the two branches by far, they grow out of the ground as or like mushrooms. They are inherently violent and cruel from the moment of their "birth", rendering most morality arguments concerning them pointless. The Goblins of Warhammer have a keen mind however and are prone to trickery. While not able to design or even properly learn to use and keep something like a gun they have been able to design and use devices that are crude immutations or evolutions of things they've seen used by the other races of the world. And Goblins are industrious, while unlikely to prospect for a mine like other races, they can appreciate and engage in mining, smelting and smithwork, as well as a other very wide variety of tasks.

Because their numbers, ability to go somewhat unnoticed and wide array of skills Goblins have spread much further than even their Ork counterparts having their own societies and mini-kingdoms hidden even in lands that routinely cleanse the greenskins. And it is Goblin who most frequently start small wars or even lone large battles against nearly every kingdom in the world, making them the unfortunately familiar face of the greenskins on the Warhammer world.

Orks on the other hand are a little more mysterious than Goblins, but have some very key traits. Each Ork is much larger than a human , sometimes still with more mass in just their flesh than a Chaos Warrior in their full plate, or on Azeroth more mass than a fully grown Draenei male. However they have hunchback spine making them slope, and thus stand roughly even in height to a human. Orks persist on a omnivorous diet of mushrooms, meat, and violence. Orks growth is triggered by acts of violence partially combat and victory in combat. Culturally based off this Orks are more violent than Goblins, but are also more direct and simplistic, they have few thoughts or desires outside of combat or basic survival and will leave most of the issues of "society" to the Goblins. While Orks will often bully their way into leadership they are little more than a simplistic warrior caste for the Greenskins existing for war and almost physically incapable of comprehending much else, typically because anything else is too boring for them.

No Stepping Down

Sister Avenah sighed while watching the river's shoreline pass by. The Sister had hotly debated with Tolgar over this diplomatic mission, and while glad she had gotten her way still found herself missing the speed in which diplomats could travel on Azeroth.

Tolgar had cited the initial human reactions to seeing male Draenei or even herself and was concerned she might be attacked by a startled individual. However Avenah had countered that Aursuun had not been attacked, despite being far more intimidating and the entire situation he was in. And she also had cited the need to represent the entirety of the Alliance, and not to create a human centeic misconception.

Eventually Avenah, for lack of a better way to put it, tricked Tolgar with a compromise. She had insisted she would take a human bodyguard, one who was even an Adventurer with her, and she would also bring along a Dwarf assistant as their species, or at least a varient of the Dwarves were also present on this world. She didn't tell Tolgar that this human was a Worgan and that she intended to fully display this while introducing herself.

Thus far the crew of the boat they were on hadn't been conversational with her even after a full two days. And as nothing more than a passenger she didn't have much to do, or wasn't given much. So Avenah watched the crew and prayed.

As she did this the Sister had noticed several small details concerning the crew. None of them openly displayed any faith, but each performed small rituals, and they all displayed various superstitions. Many would grab tokens or make signs if the ships passed a portion of forest that seemed particularly dark.

"Does your crew not have any priests or spiritual leaders? How would you all pray to the Light or commune with the Elemental spirits?" The Sister of the Light asked a crewmember she found tending to what she assumed was a small shrine filled with various effigies including a carving of a albatross, an Eagle, a sphere with two tails of fire, and a black flower.

"What are you on about? Ele-Whats-its? Which light? And why would a priest have anything to do with those?" The man answered, confused and looking like he wished to leave the Priestess.

"The Light, power that banishes darkness, heals others, and provides compassion and guidance. Or the Elemental Spirits Spirits that govern the elements of a region and help support life. Perhaps they might take other names in your culture?" Avenah answered, trying to keep a open mind to the individual and his potential beliefs.

"You talking about the boat shrine?" The man asked, looking away from the Draenei and to the shrine. "Umm, we're kinda just covering the bases here, but you got Manann God of the Sea, seeing how were on a boat seems like a good choice, then Myrmidia goddess of victory, strategy and war...Ummm Sigmar because well half the stuff in Mordheim is stuff he smites, and then Morr to save us as we pass. The other Gods probably aren't too useful for a mercenary company like us to call on, either because they'd worsen our reputation, wouldn't be much help in what we do, or don't find our work agreeable."

Avenah stopped and considered the man's statements before forming a line of questioning. "Alright and have your people ever met any of their servants? Or is there a way for me to meet these Gods?"

The man stood thinking hard, often going to speak but stopping himself. "Well I'm not sure about servants, unless you mean priests but I don't think you mean that. I guess I can tell you what rumors I do know and you can decide for yourself. No one has met with Sigmar in person in a very long time, not since he became a God. And I guess all fish and not-chaos spawned sea monsters count as Manann's servants. And they say Ulric's children roam the forests of Middenland tearing apart Beastmen and Chaos mutants with fang and claw as great man-wolves. Also and I'm really not sure about this one, but apparently there's a Tilian woman in Estallia who might be the vassel of Myrmidia."

The Priestess of the light contemplated some of the statements the man made. Wolf-men in the Empire, a vassel in some other nation, and sea creatures being divine. Perhaps these people worshipped Wild Gods in some manner.

"So then do your priests have a great connection to nature? Maybe some having a animal form matching their God?" Avenah asked, earning a odd look from the man.

"Their priests not monsters. Besides if every priest took too much after their God, Priests of Morr would occupy the very caskets they're supposed to keep watch over."

"Wait this Morr God is your God of Death?"

"Nah he doesn't cause people to die, he saves us after we die. Causing people to die is our job, kind of hard to compete if a God is doing the job for free." Avenah watched the man a little more closely, perhaps the six powers shared a pantheon on this world.

"Perhaps you would be willing to share some more of your faiths with me?"

"I'm no priest, ask for a temple when we get to Port." The man answered both dismissively and as helpfully as he could.

Avenah sighed, it would still be a while yet before they reached Altdorf and while the mystery of this world's Gods, Titans, and Demons was still pressing on her mind, the joy of solving that particular mystery would have to wait for her to complete her task.

So Avenah returned to watching the shoreline, her mind considering every possible argument she might have to make. From displaying the diversity and the strength of the Alliance, proposing the exchange of technologies and magical research, offering limited promises of military aid, accepting immigrants, anything to get this Empire which was already showing to be so large, at least on this river, to align itself with the Alliance. And as she thought Avenah could see square pupiled eyes watching the ship from the dark of the forest, followed by the soft glow of moss a mile later.

Abram finally caught sight of the lights of the outsiders fortifications gleaming over the rooftops as he marched alongside the human soldiers, behind them hundreds of Zombies shambled silently. If only the humans could be as quiet, or nearly as loyal as Abram's undead servants.

Abram stopped walking and his entire host of the dead immediately stopped, while the living forced the Necromancer to stop his musings and battle plans in order to deliver a verbal order. Raising his voice Abram was forced to rasp out, "Halt!" to the mortal troops, again proving the Necromancer's disdain for the creature's.

But now was the living's time to provide some use to their betters. With a rasp the Necromancer began issuing ordeds to the living soldiers. "The enemy are ahead, sneak up. Use your...bo-wsss and kill. I will use you to close the gap...and then we will breach their walls." The Necromancer struggled to get the words out. Exhaustion and weakness, trade marks of his accursed mortal flesh, preventing him from speaking clearly.

In response the soldiers stopped and grouped for several moments before one of their number made a plan. That the group if soldiers would attack hidden by the buildings and allow the Zombies to be spotted before catching the defenders by surprise and downing as many as possible.

This plan caused Abram to fume. "Noo, you must attack first, then my undead will come. Send some of your men up to be spotted first, you have the crossbows, use them!" Abram gave his counter-order. The men glared at the Necromancer, clearly on the verge of mutiny against him.

"If you don't obey, your homes will all die." With muttered complaints, and shaking off the rain the men complied.

The rain, cold and sharp, beat upon Kyn'ra's exposed skin like a hail of razors, but the Night Elf kept her vigil even as Eike spoke next to her analysing everything.

"Es besteht kein Zweifel, das ist Rauch und es kommt aus dem Söldnerlager am Fluss. Unsere Seite wird die erste sein, alle Feinde zu begegnen. Die Untoten halten weder Fernkämpfer in ihren Reihen, noch brauchen sie einen heimlichen Ansatz, da ihre Zahlen wissen, dass wir auf sie warten. Sie werden die drei Straßen nehmen und in den Hof der anderen Villen und sie werden uns mit Zombies oder Wights stürzen." (There is no doubt, that's smoke and it's coming from the Mercenary Encampment on the river. Our side will be the first to encounter any enemies. The Undead don't keep ranged fighters in their ranks, nor do they have need for a stealthy approach with their numbers knowing that we're waiting for them. They'll take the three roads and to the courtyards of the other mansions and they'll rush us with Zombies or wights.) The human man rambled taking care to keep the powder of his pistols dry in the heavy rain.

Hearing Eike's advice Kyn'ra shouted to the other defenders. "Smoke! The Enemy is coming! They have numbers and will likely attempt to swarm us!"

While not orders, the advice was recieved by most of the defenders on the wall and many switched to preparing spells or ammunition that would serve better for crowd control or slowing a oncoming horde. Meanwhile most the defenders focused towards the areas where a large force could spread out and approach such as the other courtyards, or the wider streets of this city section.

Kyn'ra continued to scan the terrain looking for any sign if the coming foes. The former Watcher kept her near instinctual watch looking for potential infiltrators. This old habit already earned the Night Elf a reward after several minutes of watching. A movement in one of the mansions, one of the tables, it's legs hidden by the walls moving in a manner that would have been undetectable otherwise except to the Night Elf's experienced and highly trained sight.

Kyn'ra prepared her bow keeping it's aim towards the middle point of each of the exits of the building closest to the window where the table moved. "Movement! In the mansion to my left." Kyn'ra reported to the defenders closest to her.

A moment later everything burst into activity. Kyn'ra let loose a arrow as a group of humans emerged from a door, her reactionary shot only winging the third of these humans. Meanwhile windows of the mansion filled with combatants as arrows and crossbow bolts flew either from the windows or from enemy soldiers running for cover.

The defenders likewise, caught by surprise, retaliated, spells were changed and bolts of energy released, arrows were nooked and fired. Two score of the attackers fell while their sudden assault wounded a dozen defenders, two of which fell from the wall with healers running forward to pull those two away.

A second exchange took place as now the attacker had put themselves into cover, both sides suffering casualties, the sudden human atrackers losing far fewer men than the first even though now the spellcasters had more suitable spells prepared the attackers proved surprisingly adept at avoiding harm while in cover. Meanwhile the defenders also took fewer casualties but still more than the attackers did with their exchange. The crossbows of the attackers seemed to have range, and power on their side, even if their accuracy was limited the volley capabilities of the attacking forces was providing to be more than enough to score a injury or wounded combatant.

Kyn'ra smirked, this attack certainly wasn't the undead that Eike had feared, and despite the enemy's approach and somewhat relative ability. Their attack was already faltering, they had been blocked by the wall and soon the alliance force would slowly be doing away with this foe one after another. Kyn'ra nooked and fired yet another arrow this one taking an attacker in the cheek.

Suddenly Eike's panicked voice filled the Night Elf's ear. "Du bist auf einen Trick hereingefallen, für den sich selbst Ranald schämen würde! Die Toten haben massiert du Idiot! Es sei denn, Sie möchten von nun an in Morrs Garten träumen! (You've fallen for a trick even Ranald would be ashamed to use! The dead have massed you idiot! Unless you wish to dream in Morr's garden from now on look!)" The Human shouted vigorously pointing with his sword.

Down the streets, just barely preceptable to the distracted and still firing and fighting Night Elf, Kyn'ra could see the gathered horrors Eike had pointed out. The street had filled with the dense press of unliving corpses who were now creeping towards the Alliance's defenses on mass, and Kyn'ra could feel cold tears run down her face as the realization dawned on her.

The coming undead easily numbered in the hundreds, and the spells and ammunition which the Alliance could use to effectively cut down great swaths of this foe had either been used on the human archers attacking them, or set aside for spells and weapons to fight the cover bound and spread out foes.

"Do not allow yourselves to be slain!" The words of Aursuun froze Kyn'ra's heart. "It's harder hear for us to revive you, deal with those archers quickly but don't let them strike you without a healer immediately on hand."

Kyn'ra's eyes turned to each side of the wall, everyone manning the palisades was engrossed in combat with the human archers, indeed only Eike had realized the truth and Kyn'ra would have never noticed if not for him. With the dread of the looming doom gripping her Kyn'ra cried out. "NOO! The streets! The Streets! The dead are coming, fireballs, shards of ice, explosions and volleys! We need to stop the undead!" The Night Elf's shouted with everything she had, her throat going horse she was shouting so loudly. Few heard the warning, fewer still were able to act on the Night Elf's warning.

Before the defense could prepare themselves, still locked into a ranged duel against the enemy archers, the Undead army surged, the dense mass of rotting flesh charging as a hobbled run into the open space between the Alliance and themselves. Several mines, explosive arrows, as well as fireballs, Lighting, and explosions of arcane power ripped into the oncoming horde, but it was too late. The tide of Zombies was able to spread across the streets, undead hands with spears and swords began to strike at the palisade and the defenders atop it. The stone reinforcements held but now the defenders had to prevent the dead from scaling the walls, elsewhere undead holding hammers and iron claws began to tear away at the wall.

Beside her Kyn'ra watched Eike use his sword to fend off attackers while firing his pistol towards enemies armed with particular weapons. The defense was holding, however the threat of the enemy archers was now scoring casualties as they now fought nearly uncontested. Elsewhere down the wall a foul plan was unfolding as Kyn'ra fought desperately, already felling her twentieth undead in the minutes sense the horde had surged forth.

The Undead had taken a fallen beam from one of the city's collaosed buildings and with some crude hacking had hewn it into a suitable shape. Now a dozen zombies brought the ram to the wall, here the living struggled the most to fend off the undead, few of their exploding magics or special arrows were able to threaten the crude ram as it was brought into place. Kyn'ra was only able to notice the ram as it came to strike the wall, from far away she could even faintly feel the reverberation of the first strike. Someone shouted a warning and arrows and spells were unleashed on the ram, only for walking skeletons to emerge from the unliving swarm each armed with shields that they used to block the Alliance's attempt to stop the ram as it struck again, a second, third, and even fourth time.

While Kyn'ra couldn't see from where she stood the shouts of alarm on the forth strike let her know that the ram was starting to break through the wall. She considered moving to help against the ram and the breach it was forming as Eike felled yet another hammer carrying zombie, but then a shouted warning stopped her, as two more rams were being rushed towards the wall, one coming straight for her section.

Distant from the fighting Abram watched events unfolding through the eyes of his undead. At the first ram stuck home again the wall collapsed, however before Abram's undead could surge through, a bear, the likes born of Ursun, emerged from the breach tearing into the undead. At its side a small creature, even smaller than a halfling, in full plate and carrying a battle axe and shield fought beside it. Then another creature appeared over the zombie Abram was watching through, the sudden fear and pain of the zombie's destruction causing Abram to pull his senses back. The being that had frightened Abram so badly looked like either a Skin-Wolf of the North or perhaps one of Ulric's children, a massive were weilding a pair of swords that may have been shortswords in the creature's hands, but were almost longswords in the hands of a normal mortal.

Even from this distance Abram could see the trio cutting down scores of Zombies halting the advance of the Undead. Several arrows and Bolts embedded themselves into the bear or bounced off the armor of the other two combatants, however no follow-up volley came to strike the defenders. The living soldiers of the Necromancer's force were already staging a retreat, they had only suffered the loss of one third their number and they now were fleeing like the cowardly living fools they were. Abram would have to make his zombies consume them, after he relocated back towards the river of course.

The Necromancer changed his focus to his other two rams. One had now reached the walls and Abram possessed one of the Zombies to watch as they brought the ram back striking the wall once, twice, and then suddenly a dwarf was falling, no jumping down onto the Ram spinning in place with a sword as large as he was. How such a childish manouver was supposed to work Abram couldn't know, however all twelve of the zombie's manning the ram were dead in short order, and now a large blue skinned woman with tentacles in her hair and hoved feet joined the dwarf weilding a odd looking polearm while a human fighting bare fisted in a strange Cathayan robe lept down as well. This group fought fiercely as well, but had no obvious route to escape, and Abram would have loved to test his necromatic power on their corpses. However before the Undead could press in and attack, ropes were dropped from the wall which the three quickly used to scale the wall.

The third ram wasn't even fortunate enough to reach the wall, a human fired a pair of pistols into his leading zombies as a purple Elf fired several arrows simultaneously dropping three other zombies. Before more Undead could lift the ram yet another of these weak lesser wizards of this place suddenly destroyed the Ram with a powerful spear of ice. Abram scowled, these wizards were so beneath him even compared to the Battle-Wizard he confronted once before. All deluded by the typical living obsession with elements and form changing rather than the eternal powers of life and death.

A pained roar pulled Abram from his hateful stewing. Instead the Necromancer concluded that the one opening he had created was his best bet to force his way into the fort, as his next best entry was a small man sized hole the zombies were attempting to widen with hammers but were suffering greatly in the attempt as explosions and magic killed scores of them.

Abram had saved his core of Skeletal spearmen for now and with a wave of his hand sent several hundred of them to go overwhelm the Bear and its companions...Abram waved his hand and the skeletons marched forth to overwhelm. Abram waved his hand again but the Skeletons remained firmly rooted in place, entirely unmoving, as still as a untouched grave. Enraged Abram put more magic into the command, but when the undead again refused to move, Abram moved to flee to the river only to be stopped.

"Do you not recognize the will of your Master, Necromancer?" Aleksandr's voice sending a nervous shiver down Abram's spine. Behind the Necromancer the Vampire was mounted atop his nightmare steed with a gathering of Black Knights and Wight Kings mounted alongside him.

"F-forgive my mistake my liege. I had just been attemptingto obey your orders and was so focused on the task you gave to me I failed to realize you had arrived. Abram bowed as deeply as his withered body would allow.

"As spineless and wasteful as ever Abram. For now you will wait here, Volkbert will keep watch and give you my orders." The Vampire stated, as one of the Wight Kings under the Vampire's command turned its mummified gaze towards Abram, the magic embuned in the faded remenant of a time long past causing the creature's blade to emit a aura of death.

"I await his word master." With that said, Aleksandr rode forth on his Nightmare, the human troops under his command pushing a set of wagons up to replace the Vampire and his Knights afterwards.

Kyn'ra watched with a sense of triumph as the battle turned against the Undead. The Zombies attempts to breach the walls had all been stopped. The silent hoard also seemed to have noticed and lost heart, the reserves of the attackers all began to pull away from the wall as those unable to leave fought with far less vigor. Something Kyn'ra cheered for in her heart as she loosed a arrow that nearly decapitated one of the enemy's zombies and embedding the arrow into the atub of the creature's neck.

Indeed if the defenders were already breaking the assault Kyn'ra could say with certainty that the Scourge or Forsaken were far more threatening than this world's Undead. The horrifying monster that had impailed her on a table leg must have been a truly powerful and unique example.

The Undead still attacking the wall all stopped and even as they were cut down in mass raced to join their fellow Undead who had stopped their slow retreat instead the Undead started to form into densely packed formations. Many on the wall began asking for a explanation as to the odd behavior of the Undead, Kyn'ra included.

However instead of a straight answer from anyone a loud whinny grabbed the Night Elf's focus bringing her eyes on a formation of mounted warriors, at its lead riding a cruel looking steed seemed to be a man wearing full plate armor smithed to evoke a bat in flight. Before Kyn'ra could speak up pointing the obvious leader out he spoke.

"Ich bin Aleksandr Von Carstein. Ihr alle habt mir etwas genommen, was ich nie wieder haben kann. (I am Aleksandr Von Carstein. You all have taken something from me which I can never have again.)" The leader spoke, his voice level, calm, and unelevated, yet still reaching across the plaza, over the massed corpses, and past the walls to the defenders.

"Who the hell is that? Is he ordering the Undead?" Those and several similar questions came from dozens of confused Alliance defenders.

Tolgar seemed to refuse to tolerate the questions shouting. "By Sargeras' flaming ass, shut it, he's introduced himself."

"Ich kann meinen kostbaren Laich nicht von dir zurückfordern. Ich beabsichtige jedoch, ihren Wert und weit mehr von Ihrem Volk zu fordern. Wenn Sie sich ergeben, verspreche ich Nachsicht, Die Arbeit und der Dienst, den ich von Ihnen beanspruchen werde, werden enden, sobald Sie sterben, und ich werde Sie im Leben belohnen, vielleicht sogar kommen, um etwas von Ihrer Zahl zu pflegen und zu schätzen. Widersetze dich weiterhin mir und im Tod wirst du das Leiden beneiden, das du im Leben ertragen hast, um ehrlich zu sein, ich hoffe, du entscheidest dich, mir weiterhin zu widerstehen. (I can not reclaim my precious spawn from you. However I intend to claim her worth and far more from your people. If you surrender I promise leniency, the labor and service I will claim from you will end once you die and I shall reward you in life, perhaps even come to care for and value some of your number. Continue to resist me and in death you will envy the suffering you endured in life, truth be told I hope you choose to keep resisting me.)" The leader threatened while reaching into his saddlebag.

"Ha, he's using the classic Carrots and Sticks approach. He is offering us terms of surrender!" Tolgar might have over simplified but the response of one of the defenders on the wall more than spoke for the rest.

"He wants us to surrender, well since he hid as we destroyed his army, let me show him our response!" One of the defenders shouted.

"Wait don't!" A single arrow flew at the enemy leader who now pulled out a hourglass that was already half done and held it aloft. Before the arrow could impact one of the Black clad knights rode between the arrow and the lord and raised his shield. The arrow penetrated the Shield and presumably through the arm of the rider. The rider made no noise, nor showed any reaction to the arrow through their arm.

"Du hast Zeit, bis das letzte Korn fällt, dann werde ich deine Mauern niederreißen und jedem, der Arme trägt, Qual bereiten. (You have until the last grain falls, then I shall tear down your walls and bring agony to any bearing arms.)" The Undead leader threatened almost entirely unconcerned. maybe even unnoticing of the arrow that had been fired at him. One of the Undead next to the leader, a Skeleton in the garb and armor of a ancient king, turned its head to the leader only to be immediately dismissed with a wave of the leaders hand.

"He's giving us time, we might as well use it. Barricades! Restock Ammunition! Anyone who isn't a combatant discard your weapons!" the boomong voice of Datris Sageclaw called from elsewhere on the wall, the druids voice booming with the power of a great beast.

The alliance defenders acted quickly, in only a few mintues time those who could be brought back to fighting strength had been so, the arrows and gunshot had been filled for the wall defenders, and a waist high bareacde had been formed at the breach. All while the enemy stood silently.

Eventually the last grain of sand fell and the Undead leader smiled. "So sei es. (So be it.)" He then turned his head and spoke again. "Снимайте от оръдия" The creature ordered. Suddenly two blasts could be heard, sudden flashes came from the rain shrowded streets and a second later the was ten feet from Kyn'ra burst open as if hit by a titanic hammer. Elsewhere one of the Wall defenders head was suddenly removed from his shoulders and another cannonball destroyed one of the mansion walls beyond.

Alarm raised among the defenders, spells and arrows loosed into the massed blocks of Undead. Yet neither the Infantry nor the enemy cavalry charged. Not for the openings on the walls, nor to assault the walls. Instead the enemy leader thrust his hand forward with a roar, and something truly horrific took place.

The defeated and slain enemies who littered the outside of the wall suddenly began to rise on mass. Kyn'ra considered that the Undead had just been faking their desths, but she could see the one whose head she nearly removed starting to stand, the movement causing it's head to swing and its final tendons to snap causing the head to fall off entirely which caused the monster to collapse dead once again. At the old breach's barricade piles of Undead rose one after another grasping hands and rusty swords suddenly lashing at the defenders the roars of a valiant bear and Worgen echoing across the battle.

However where the cannon had created a breach the Undead poured in as no Warriors were there yet to block them from entering. Dead hands grabbed defenders on the wall pulling them to the ground as farm tools, broken spears, blunt swords, and makeshift clubs battered the unfortinates to death.

Acting quickly Eike jumped from the wall, his sword cutting across one of the Zombies killing it as he landed and dropped to he knees. Immediately the human fired a shot with his pistol, then as he stood back to his feet drew and fired another pistol, and then another before the first zombie could reach him. Next the Human mercenary carefully dodged clumbsy attacks while making counter-strikes against undead wrists and necks.

Kyn'ra didn't yet leave the wall, firing arrow after arrow, then two arrows at once and another two arrows, then three at once, and eventually giving up on accuracy with the building Horde the Night Elf was firing four arrows at once. Then as the Undead swarm grew near the Night Elf lept from the wall herself firing arrow after arrow into the swarm as she put distance between them and herself. However with so many Undead converging on Eike, Kyn'ra changed her approach pulling a Dao from it's scabbard the Night Elf charged to Eike's side cutting a Zombie in half as she joined the human in his defense.

Soon the warriors joined the fight helping plug the breach as a Draenei warrior carrying a shield and Halbred crashed into the Undead physically forcing the tide back, after the Draenei another Night Elf lept in, his pair of swords moving as a blur quickly removing limbs from the Undead. After the pair came a line of Men-at-arms eventually clashing with and stopping the Zombies from getting further into the Alliance fort.

Kyn'ra allowed herself a sigh of releif bending over to catch her breath, until she head the beat of hooves and a wailing whinny. The Night Elf looked up only to see the tip of a foul lance closing with her head, the blade of the weapon filled with a aura of death that seemed to call for her. Fear caused her to freeze momentarily, then a force knocked her aside, as Eike tackled her knocking her and himself out of the path of a passing Black Knight.

Kyn'ra looked up to watch as three Black knights all collided with the Draenei warrior, her shield and skill only stopping one of the three as the other two's lances connected with her collar stabbing through and carrying the screaming woman off. More Black knights trampled over the men-at-arms and the screeching whinny pulled Kyn'ra's attention to the most horrific sight.

The leader of the Undead army had rode past the walls, the Night Elf warrior was now impailed on his lance, as the evil steed of the Deathless lord reared back the body slowly slipped further down the length of the lance holding him aloft, his blood dripping down onto his killer.

Kyn'ra wanted to scream, wanted to fight back, but before she could draw and aim her bow the wall behind her exploded. The Night Elf was showered in splinters and a rock fragment cut her face. And then another cannonball clipped the wall and veered into three of the Black Knights killing them before skipping into the men-at-arms killing two of them.

Kyn'ra almost returnes to firing arrows at the leader but a muted gasp from Eike, the clanking of heavy metal moving nearby, and the sound of voices made of whisping winds and a haunting hollow sound all chanting a strange battle dirge.

"Смърт за живите, смърт за враговете, победа за мъртвите, нека падналите възкръснат!"

Kyn'ra's head snapped back to the new breach in the wall. Here a formation of heavily armored Skeleton soldiers were matching through with the mounted Skeleton king ridding alongside them. Unlike the skeleton soldiers Kyn'ra saw before these undead moved not like puppets or windup toys, but instead they moved with the purpose and smooth grace of a living veteran soldier.

Behind these heavily armored soldiers, a virtual tide of Skeletons marched in perfect lockstep following after these elites. Men-at-arms attempted to block these elites, but unlike the more regular skeletons these elites were able to match and with their evil life thirsty blades, even strongly surpass the Men-at-arms.

"Pull back! Back into the mansion, Notify the Alliance!" Tolgar shouted from near the mansions already as he prepared spells to try and lock down the advancing foes. At his side Datris Sageclaw was in the form of a bear and had a large group of warriors prepared. Kyn'ra understood and began her mad dash, firing arrows as she ran, nearly a hundred more defenders running with her as the Druid and his warriors charged the enemy attempting to force open a path through the Zombies and Undead cavalry for the wall defenders to escape through.

Datris' charge managed to disrupt the undead forces and the defenders began to break through, keeping ahead of the undead elite Infantry and their Skeletal king. However even as the defenders were able to escape Datris and his warriors were faced with the cursed blades of the Black Knights, blows which should not have been fatal immediately killed otherwise perfectly healthy warriors, and even veterans of the Icecrown campaign struggled and fell to the Undead leader and his cavalry.
Datris himself dueled the creature it's lance pulling chunks of flesh from Datis' bear form, but Datris burried his claws into the Undead's legs, his fangs ripping into the throat of the hellish steed of the monster. The Druid with a muffled roar pulled out the throat of the mount and threw it and rider to the ground, even as Kyn'ra a couple yards away ran past. The bear and Vampire faced off. "You shall not pass creature!" Datris roared in defiance.
"Ich gratuliere dir und deinem Meister, Bär, du bist das edelste Tier, das ich je gesehen habe. Es tut mir leid, dich getötet zu haben. (I congradulate you and your master, bear, you are the most noble animal I have ever witnessed. I pity killing you.)" The Vampire stated as he prepared his blade. Datris charged, and Aleksandr lunged forward thrusting his blade upwards and through the Druid's heart, even with the blade through his heart Datris struggled, his claws ripping armor and flesh from the Vampire, and his weight forcing Aleksandr to his knees almost crushing the Undead entirely. Indead With his dying breath Datris should have ended Aleksandr's un-life as his claws reached deeperand closer ro Aleksandr's heart, however a blast of magical power threw Datris from the Vampire stabbing through the bear from and throwing him to the foot of the mansion stairs.
"Ейбрам, къде беше, страхливецо?!"
"От момента, в който се обадих, се състезавах на ваша страна, господарю, но некомпетентният живот с оръжия затрудни подхода ми."

translation:

Bulgarian to English: Снимайте от оръдия (fire the cannons)

Смърт за живите, смърт за враговете, победа за мъртвите, нека падналите възкръснат! (Death to the living, Death to the foe, Victory to the dead, let the fallen rise!)

Ейбрам, къде беше, страхливецо?! (Abram, where were you, coward?!)

От момента, в който се обадих, се състезавах на ваша страна, господарю, но некомпетентният живот с оръжия затрудни подхода ми. (Since the call I have been racing to your side master, but the incompetent living at the cannons made my approach difficult.)